Aber: Me, my dad and the '92 Jays

From SABR member Matt Aber at Seamheads.com on March 3, 2012:

Anyone who has even remotely come in contact with the game of baseball has heard the old adage of how fans of the game use it to mark the times in their lives almost like mile markers on the road. It is an understandable claim, as this sport itself has been around for almost as long as the country itself and has evolved along with it, at times being a mirror of society. I am no different than anyone else who has stuck their bat into the ground and claimed a special year, memorable game, or highlight reel play by saying, “that…that moment there is mine” once you have felt the impact it has had on your life.

Now that pitchers and catchers have reported and the ice has been broken on getting the season started for 2012, I have been reflecting on how this year will mark the 20th anniversary of the piece of baseball history that I call my own. I carved out 1992 a long time ago, when Mike Timlin tossed Otis Nixon’s bunt attempt to Joe Carter to record the final out of the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays and their first in franchise history.

The first time I ever heard of cancer was back in 1980 when I was six years old and my parents told me that my Dad had something called lymphoma. It did not register at the time because even though they said my dad was sick he looked fine and did not act any differently than what I was used to seeing.